University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to Establish Telemedicine Network with U.S. Air Force

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System has received a $10 million federal grant to establish a partnership with the U.S. Air Force Medical Service to develop a telemedicine network linking the service to military outposts around the world, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The Integrated Medical Information Technology System is expected to expedite the diagnosis and treatment of military personnel in areas where specialists are not readily available. The telemedicine system will allow dermatology, pathology and radiology images to be transmitted from military bases to specialists. In the first phase of the project, the telehealth network will be operated in cooperation with Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. The partnership is driven, in part, by a decline in specialists in both the military and private sectors. For example, the military expects to lose half its radiologists in the next three years as a result of a nationwide shortage and the military's "inability to effectively compete with job opportunities in the civilian market" (Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/23).